{"nrhp_refnum":"75000421","name":"Pacific Press Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1117 Castro St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Oakland","county":"Alameda County","state":"CA","lat":37.805014397000036,"lon":-122.27850211299994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-04-14","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture","Communications"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-and-one-half-story Italianate wood-frame publishing building at 1117 Castro Street in Oakland, Alameda County, California, erected in 1875 under the direction of James White of the Seventh Day Adventists.","why_significant":"The building housed the Pacific Press Publishing Company, described as the largest and finest publishing firm on the West Coast, with nationwide distribution of books and periodicals. It served as the primary center for the Seventh Day Adventists, providing housing and employment. It is also an example of Italianate detailing with a Greek cross plan and cupola.","narrative":"This Italianate frame building at 1117 Castro Street in Oakland was put up in 1875 as a publishing and printing house for the Seventh Day Adventists, under the direction of James White. It is laid out as a Greek cross, a plan chosen to admit more light, and rises two and one-half stories above a basement. Carved brackets decorate the hooded main door and the windows, and a high gabled roof carries a cupola with palladian windows. In 1880 the building was raised and the basement enlarged to hold a press room and engine room. Later additions included a three-story building behind it and a two-story engine room on Twelfth Street; only the original building survives. The firm produced books and periodicals on education, health, religion and local history, including Sign of the Times and Album of Oakland. With departments for bookbinding, engraving, printing, electrotyping and stereotyping, it became the largest publishing firm on the West Coast, distributing nationwide.","period_of_significance":"1875-1904","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Italianate (Victorian)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed in fair condition and altered by rear extensions of the sides; the form's data sheet lists current use as residential. The original building is the only structure of the complex still remaining.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.870367-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/75000421.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123858310","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":null},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/alameda-county/pacific-press-building-75000421/"}